Recovery From the Drought
by Bitter-Sweet-ish
Summary: There once was your average princess and prince. But they attend highschool, and the princess was a complete wreck inside and the prince was misunderstood by the whole world. Who said that all endings had to be happy? AU
1. Welcome

**A/N: New story! And this is my first anime one. So, please be nice. **

**The reason I'm doing a SasxSak was because I am absolutely in love with that couple. I'm not a big fan of Sasuke (Sorry girls,) or Naruto (Sorry again). The only people I really like with Sakura is Sasori and Gaara. As you can see, I like red headed animated guys. Tee hee.**

**-Bitter-Sweet-ish**

**(Angie)**

Song: The Uninvited Thirteenth-Alesana

_Her sweet lips, oh so fair, to awake is now everything I crave  
Time's catching up with me  
I've come this far, there's no turning back  
My sword is drawn, the only choice I have is to fight  
Nothing can stop me now but myself_

**:ONE:**

Sakura Haruno looked at herself in the mirror, doing a little twirl to make sure her outfit was in check. Jeans, check. Shirt, check. Necklace, check. Earrings, shoes, socks, backpack, all check. Her jeans were the colour of the bottom of the ocean: dark, dark blue, almost black. Her shirt was a plain white one and it hugged her slim body. She recently went shopping with her best friend, Ino Yamanaka, to get accessories, waiting for the day when school started. She had her red Chucks on, and she slung her backpack on and headed to school.

She smiled as everything was in perfect order, made her bed and rushed downstairs for her breakfast. She ate her cereal and chased it down with the milk.

When she was little, Sakura's parents made her breakfast. Not anymore, since they were too busy and they rarely came home. She didn't mind though, because she could already take good care of herself. She was turning seventeen in a couple of months, so she was close to being legal age and move out. Sure, her parents were okay, but they didn't do anything and she practically ran the house. Her parents treated their own house as a hotel.

Sakura ran out the door and headed to her shiny new convertible, driving to her high school, Central Park East High School in Manhattan, New York.

.oOo.

After taking a shower from the short jog, Sasori Anasuka got dressed to head to his new school. Simple, worn fading jeans, dirty white sneakers and a red shirt that looked like it trampled over by horses. He made himself a cup of coffee, his breakfast, and headed to his apartment balcony. He sat down on the ground and his legs dangled off the edge. He lit a cigarette and took a long drag. He exhaled and the grey smoke made its way north. Five feet into the air, it already disappeared.

He was suddenly glad that he was emancipated. That stupid aunt of his, was probably drunk when she signed all the contracts and papers to legalize Sasori's freedom. That was when he was fifteen. He was now seventeen and doing okay. Sure, he snuck in some cigarettes and some beer, but who haven't at his age?

He finished off his cigarette and littered the butt by simply dropping it. It landed silently on the parking lot.

He sighed, ran his hand through his hair, got up and grabbed his backpack and his keys to his motorcycle and headed out.

He no longer had that excitement for the first day of school. He didn't really miss the feeling of excitement. The fast, eccentric heart beats, sweaty hands, the anxious wait. You can't get excitement when your life is just a straight line: boring and never changing. Besides, he already knew what the people were going to say. He heard it over and over. _'Look at that freak over there.' 'Didn't he kill that one guy in Florida?' _There was even a rumour at his old school, saying that he was part of the Ku Klux Klan. Total bullshit. He was alone, helpless and never invited into social activities. He was alone. And always has and will be.

.oOo.

"Sakura! Oh my God, I can't believe summers over!" Ino practically lifted her friend off the ground, pulling her into a bone crushing hug. Tears sprung to Sakura' s eyes. _Damn she was strong._

"I know. It was getting good too."

"C'mon, the girls and the guys have been waiting for ever for you." Ino smiled. One thing that Sakura was jealous was that when Ino smiled, it lit up her whole face, intensifying her features.

Sakura giggled as her best friend was practically dragging her. There was a hoard of people near a pretty big tree. She recognized them instantly. The girls, Hinata, Ten Ten and Temari. Hinata and Sakura knew each other from birth, and Ten Ten was introduced to Sakura when she was twelve. Temari moved to New York two years ago; she used to live in Arizona, and constantly complaining that it was too cold here. The guys: Naruto, Sasuke, Neji, Kiba, Kankuro, Gaara and Shikamaru. Gaara and Kankuro were Temari's brothers. Naruto was currently dating Hinata. Even though Sasuke was the coolest guy in the school, he was single. We always have to dodge out of the way when his fan girls surround him. Neji was with Ten Ten, and next year would mark their three year anniversary. Kiba was with Ino, and we all have no idea why. Kiba was loud, impolite, and always dirty and chugging down beers like no tomorrow. Shikamaru was lazy, and is totally whipped by his girlfriend, Temari. Good thing too, since Shikamaru is the laziest guy you would meet, while Temari was up before the sun was.

One day Naruto, the idiotic blonde, suggested we made a group name. We all rolled our eyes and told him to play with his Barbies, but he still thought it was a good idea. He was a seventeen-year-old outside but a six year old on the inside. We, meaning just him and maybe Hinata, agreed on Ace gang. We all shrugged and even though it was completely ridiculous, we used it. It was very casual, like you were saying your cat's name or your favourite colour.

Ten Ten giggled while Neji carefully placed her in his lap. Sakura frowned.

Sakura was single but she didn't mind…much. She wasn't looking for looks. She was looking for an interesting personality. And everyone here is boring, minus her friends. There were the same cliché jocks, band geeks, up tight nerds, bullies and every cliché high school groups you could think of. She was bored with her life. She had trustworthy friends, but it wasn't that much…fun. Sure, they were the best friends you could ask for, but they had their own personal lives to go on with. Humans need affection from at least one person, or they sure will go mad. That empty feeling of desperation mingled in with sadness and the lack of confidence and self-esteem. Loneliness.

Her life was perfect. And that was the only flaw.

She had ever had a boyfriend. She didn't know any dating tips, but listening to Ten Ten, it sure sounded wonderful. The way the feel of his arms cradled your body, the soft lips, wonderful masculine smell, and irresistible eyes. Too bad the guys with those features were already taken.

Sakura was barely even listening to the conversation Ino and the guys were talking about. They seemed too animated and ecstatic in what they were talking about. She just simply nodded and said yeah every few seconds or so.

She seemed happy, but that was only a cover. Yes, she loved all her friends with her heart but that loneliness kept on getting growing, desperate for any love. She wasn't a whore, but being in a situation where all her friends were all matched and sewn together like perfect puzzle pieces, she was more than a bit jealous whenever one of their boyfriends swooped down randomly and planted a kiss on their lips.

Absent-mindedly, Sakura turned her head to the east. She didn't even realize what she was staring it. Her doe-like, green eyes adjusted and widened and sudden tears sprang up because she hadn't blinked in the last couple of minutes. Her eyes stung like she opened her eyes and it accidentally brushed against an onion. She rubbed them away, quickly, hoping no one saw them and gotten the wrong impression.

When her vision finally cleared, she checked to make no tears landed on her shirt and skirt. She looked up and saw _him. _

.oOo.

_Jesus, when is she_ _gonna _stop_ staring at me?_ Sasori thought to himself bitterly as a pretty teen, probably around his age, kept on staring at him. He was growing uncomfortable at being stared at too long. He was used to being ignored so he wasn't used to being looked at. Sure, sometimes a casual glance-over, but that was all he got. A shadow, he was a shadow. There it was, always behind someone and almost never looked at.

And, her hair was the most unusual hair colour. He met blondes, brunettes, redheads, raven-black hair, and snow-white hair. Then there were the punked teens that dyed their hair electric blue or something eye catching. But _pink_? That was a first. It definitely caught his eye, and if he didn't know any better he would have assumed it blonde. The sunlight made it seem lighter than pink. It was the exact same shade as strawberry ice cream.

She was also pale. Like she haven't been outside before. She was almost translucent, like him.

Sasori took a closer look at this exotic girl. He found some similarities. For one, she seemed quite tall. She was sitting on a tree stump, but she still seemed a bit taller from the average height. White teeth that peeked through her mouth while she gaped at him in her glassy eyed stare. The pink-haired girl was also thin.

But other than that, he couldn't find anything else. She was dressed in the preppy, bright colours that seemed so popular now (but if you think about it, the eighties were through that phase too. Good thing we aren't stuck in _that _era.), and her eyes were a striking green. His hair was red, while hers was pink and from what he could tell, they were not alike.

Little did he know, they were exactly alike on the inside.

The mysterious pink-haired girl suddenly looked down at the ground, like something invisible hit her violently on the back of her head pushing it down.

Sasori tore her eyes off her and the bell rang. _First day of school, here I come. _

.oOo.

Sakura automatically shut down her faux happy mood as soon as she entered the huge school. Not because of the whole learning process and the homework that would ruin her evening. It was the dreadful seven hours _inside_. She hated being cooped up for more than a couple of hours. Minus her car. _Wash, rinse, and repeat. Boring! Ugh, I see Mrs. Wilson still has her famous unibrow. Even the _people _here are the same. _She thought as her eyes glazed over the hallways and her teacher Mrs. Wilson, and her infamous unibrow.

Since she has been attending to her high school since freshman year, her feet automatically headed straight towards her locker. Central Park East didn't make the students switch lockers. Only if someone moved to another school, and the transfer student made his old locker his own.

She quickly did her locker combination: _55, 14, 44._ She remembered having trouble with it, always missing the _14_ and landed on _15_, and now she was a pro.

She opened the locker door and started stuffed her sweater, extra tee and jeans, and shut it. But she knew that by the end of the week, her almost-empty locker would be overstuffing with stuff. And today was a Wednesday.

She walked, no _dragged_ herself into the office, where a bunch of other people were already in line to get their school schedule. The air conditioning unfortunately broke down over the summer, and the people had yet to fix it, so it was practically a sauna in there. The lady behind the desk, Mrs. Smith, was fanning herself with her hand while hunched behind the computer.

_Finally._ She was at the front of the line, and she gave her name.

"Hello dear. Just wait a second, this darn thing is just so old and broken down I can't stand it." Mrs. Smith wailed. I smiled.

"Here it is, sorry for the delay. Next!" She gave me a parting smile and the boy behind me, Christian Wells, stepped forward.

Sakura examined it, knowing this is probably the only thing that would change this year from the last.

**Sakura Haruno, Senior.**

**First Period- Math**

**Second Period-English**

**Third Period-History**

**Fourth Period- Foreign Language (Options on the back)**

**Fifth Period- Lunchtime. All grades.**

**Sixth Period-Calculus**

**Seventh Period-Alternative**

**Eighth Period-Psychical Education**

She breathed a sigh of relief. _Yes! I have gym last_! Last year it was fourth period and when she got to the lunchroom she had to grab a sweater from my locker first from the chill the lunchroom gave off. Plus, all the good stuff was already gone, and Sakura did not like missing a meal.

She pondered on what to do for the Alternative. She flipped the paper over to see the list of alternatives.

**Alternatives**

**Latin**

**Spanish**

**French**

**Earth Science**

**Auto Mechanics**

**Drama**

**Art**

**Geography**

**Home Ec. **

**Health**

**Drafting**

**Biology**

**Chemistry**

As always, Sakura picked Latin to fill in the Fourth Period slot and this time, for fun, she picked Art for my alternative. She usually picked Home Economics but Mr. Lance kept on giving me disapproving looks, though she never burned or mixed a wrong ingredient in. Sakura would rather be out of something because someone didn't want her in.

As she was studying the list, she ran into a wall. How humiliating to walk into a wall! There were lockers on one side, and the other side was all glass, and she didn't hear the metallic ringing lockers made when she banged into it so she ran into the glass. _Great…I bet my face was all squashed._ Her inner self declared to well, herself. But she was sure she was walking in a straight line. She looked up while rubbing her cheeks and realized she ran into a guy. Her eyes widened and took a step back.

"Oh crap, so sorry. I wasn't watching where I was going, and I guess-" The words rushed out of her mouth like a waterfall.

"'K." His eyes were totally relaxed and by his walk it seemed like his body didn't really absorb that much impact.

She narrowed her eyes, annoyed that he really didn't show any emotion and that he just treated it like I accidentally dropped his pencil.

_Well, since this year is gonna be 'so fun' might as well make new friends._ As soon as she looked at him, she knew he was a new guy.

"Er…hi, my name is Sakura. Sakura Haruno, what's yours?"

Completely shocked he turned around, but tried to hide it. "Um…Sasori. Sasori Anasuka."

"Cool, well see you around Sasori." Her eyes drank in the man standing in front of her. Red shirt, abused white sneakers and jeans. He was slung back and looked like he didn't give a care in the world. He had warm brown eyes and red hair that was both striking and intriguing. It was a warm colour and it looked soft. She restrained herself from touching it. The only other person she knew who had red hair was her uncle. Maybe that's where she got her unusual pink hair.

She jogged off.

.oOo.

_It was the same girl._ The same girl that stared at Sasori. He assumed that he didn't really _see _him, lost in her own pink-haired world. She was quite tall, maybe five foot seven. He was six foot one. She was paler in person with long fingers and red lips. Slim and an athletic build and quite pretty. And suddenly, he wondered if she could really be her friend.

He inserted his headphones back in his ear and walked down the hall of his new school.

**A/N: Tada! Wow, never wrote that much on Fanfiction. Please tell me what you think of it!**

**-Bitter-Sweet-ish**

**(Angie)**

**Terribly sorry for any grammar or common sense mistakes.**


	2. Electricity

**A/N: So sorry for the late update. I went to Montreal! The car ride, a full eight hours, was such a…well you know. Oh God, I seriously wanted to write something, but I couldn't because the place didn't have any freaking Internet connection. What I did do was see Spiderman, cause we had the DVD, and watch Harry's dad get stabbed over and over and over…**

**School started, so I'm going to be busier then ever. **

**But enough of my excuses. Enjoy.**

**-Bitter-Sweet-ish**

**(Angie**)

Song: Welcome to My Life-Simple Plan

Do you wanna be somebody else?  
Are you sick of feeling so left out?  
Are you desperate to find something more?  
Before your life is over  
Are you stuck inside a world you hate?  
Are you sick of everyone around?  
With their big fake smiles and stupid lies  
While deep inside you're bleeding

No you don't know what it's like  
When nothing feels all right  
You don't know what it's like  
To be like me

**:TWO:**

"Oh man! Look at his neck. Man, that guy looks messed up…I knew Charles took drugs but I…"

"Ugh, how gross. Shelly did you see _him_? Yeah, my cousin saw him down south…Omigod, no way!"

"Freak. How could he even…Yuhuh, see you in a few Sam…"

All around him, the murmured whispers didn't die down. Instead, it rapidly grew by every locker he passed. Sasori knew rumours spread fast, but he didn't expect it to be whiplash speed. Of course, there was the unlikely chance that the students were making it up, and coincidentally, it was the same rumour. But, eavesdropping on the animated chatting brunette to his left, Texas sure had a way of bringing up news for even The Big Apple. Well, karma was a bitch and if he wasn't going to get over it, like always, he was going to go around it. Typical.

He yawned into his right hand, completely aware that they were watching his exact moves. The students, minus Sasori of course, were pressed against the lockers and the very few, mostly the very dim-witted jocks and pedestrian who were obviously too blind, walked down the hall. He smirked. He knew this game well now. He called it Prisoner. It was a one-man game, and it was only him that played it. The game was to do as many ordinary things as possible at any time for at least a week, and the most shocked faces he saw was one point. So far, he tallied up fifty-two. Not bad. He titled it Prisoner because, well, he was treated like a prisoner and acting like a smug bastard that was oblivious he was stuck in a cage known as 'High School'.

He passed two goth girls. Nope, one was emo. Her newly healed cuts were shiny and gleamed. She scowled when he looked at her, but her partner checked him out. They were wearing the ever-present black. Black lipstick, black shoes that looked like it survived the nineteenth century, gloves, tons of eyeliner, mascara, fishnets and so on and so forth. He smirked again. He knew that they only _acted _ depressed; attention huggers.

Fifty-three…Fifty-nine…The numbers were getting higher and higher. His record was two hundred and ninety-six, and was he proud of it? Not really. Actually he didn't even know why he created Prisoner. Maybe to pass the time? To prove to himself how alone he was? Whatever the reason, it didn't lessen the fact he was alone.

The only time he does not feel alone was when he was dreaming, and painting. Oh, how he loved to paint. Art was his escape from reality. How the so many different colours swirled, the different designs and techniques and how he could easily throw it away and start another, more perfect, painting. He also loved sketching, preferably with pencil since charcoal was very messy. If only life was like that. It was kind of, except life didn't have an eraser; a flaw that would make it a whole lot better. But sadly, this was how God, the artist, made it.

Seventy-nine, eighty-two. Higher and higher, skies the limit folks.

He glanced down at his much-abused sheet of paper, known as his schedule for this goddamn school. He sighed, and massaged the back of his neck.

Ninety-eight, ninety-nine, one hundred.

.oOo.

Sakura blushed, obviously embarrassed at bumping into a stranger. She took a three-sixty view around her, hoping no one saw. But, apparently, it seems everybody did. Some looked disgusted, shocked. The others probably didn't see or just shrugged it off.

"Sakura?" She scooped up her schedule and stood up, straightening her ridiculous skirt. The only reason she wore a skirt was because Ino insisted for fashion and for Sasuke, and it was warm outside so why not show a little leg? She already knew who it was from her hearing. Tap-tap. Tap-tap, and a strong masculine voice entwined by a worried one. Itachi and Kisame. Kisame and Itachi hooked up around April two years ago and they have been inseparable since.

"Hey Sakura." The two men said in unison.

"Hey Itachi, Kisame. What's up? Guess what, I have Mr. Hatake. That man can sleep, and I'm pretty sure he does have porn magazines on his desk."

They both chuckled.

"Yeah, I know. I had him last year." Itachi said behind his black glasses.

Itachi was blind. He was blind from birth and at first people seemed to notice and watch his every step- waiting for the blind kid to make a stupid move. Sakura pitied him. She would die if she didn't see any colour in her life, and it was a shame Itachi didn't even know what colour was. Sure, blue was blue and yellow was yellow. But they don't know that. But somebody that cared, someone that showed sympathy psychically was Kisame. Kisame was sort of scary looking, obsessed with fish and was a great fencer. Everyone stayed away from Kisame for his scary and imitating, strong build. Girls ignored him and guys teased him. But when Itachi walked into his life, it took him a year to finally build up his courage. Now its almost impossible to separate the two. Nobody minded that they were gay. Probably because they thought that teasing a blind man of being gay or they already knew that Kisame was gay.

"Oh yeah, I forgot. You told me over the summer when we went over to Gaara's birthday party."

Itachi was very handsome, maybe more than Sasuke. Itachi had defined cheekbones, and constantly appeared bored but that was his personality. He had tidy black hair always tied in a ponytail, and he was a little taller than Sakura. His eyes were hiding behind those black glasses that were hiding his charming onyx eyes. She didn't mind if he took the glasses off, but some did. She guessed that they didn't like that glassy stare that he didn't intentionally do.

"Heh, good times Sakura. 'member the time where Kankuro was _this_ close to kissin' Sasuke?" Kisame gently bumped Itachi on the shoulder, with a casual grin on his face. Kankuro tripped because of Kiba, his cousin, and Sasuke just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. She remembered too, and how red she was when he was close to kissing her boyfriend. Well, ex-boyfriend now.

Kisame was huge. No, not obese huge, but tall. He was a giant for crying out loud. He was a staggering six foot three, with black hair that looked almost blue in the light, and had a sort of pleasant face. He was muscled and would gladly show you his eight-pack if you asked him, almost casually. Sakura was glad that Itachi and them were together; he couldn't see and people stayed away from him because they _saw_ him as a monster.

"Sorry, I gotta go! I know Hatake is always late but imagine if I get there after he does. See you guys." She was already running while carefully eyeing where she was going.

.oOo.

It was lunch time and it was pretty cool so far. She already predicted what would happen in her classes and they all came true: Mr. Asuma and Mrs. Tsunade trying to sneak in some cigarettes or back from a bad hangover. Mr. Hatake was of course, half awake and was looking down in his lap and flipping pages nonchalantly but we all knew what was under there… Mrs. Anko was of course, being her blunt self and yelling at Shikamaru _again _to stay awake. Temari just smirked and focused on her favourite teacher. Sakura was glad that she didn't have her old teachers, with their unibrows and sweaty foreheads.

Lunch was a little slow, and that shocked Sakura because lunch was usually quick. Kiba was retelling his vacation to California _again_, while Ino was giggling and Twittering under the tables. Tenten was catching up on her math while Neji was whispering to her about something, probably the answers. Naruto was talking with his mouth full while Hinata didn't even seem embarrassed her boyfriend was acting like he hadn't eaten for weeks and chattering quietly with Ino, every now and then. Temari was talking animatedly to Tenten and eating her hamburger every now and then. Her boyfriend, Shikamaru, was looking out the window at the clouds and listening to his iPod trying to stay awake. Sasuke was talking to Kiba telling him how annoying he was acting, while Kankuro was blubbering out details of his California trip with Kiba because they were related. What a surprise that they were related. It was hard to believe Gaara was related to both of them, because he barely talked and always picked at his food like a model. He almost never sat at their usual lunch table because it was too loud and was bumming his mood. He usually sat with his friends from the school newspaper.

The new kids were sometimes wide-eyed, or shifty-planning where to sit and who wouldn't sabotage them in public. Except for one quiet person.

Sakura absent-mindedly twirled her fork in her salad staring at the new kid, knowing there was a low chance he would catch her staring. Her eyes wandered to this, alone figure.

.oOo.

Do you know the feeling when you know your being watched? Sixth sense, maybe. But Sasori did. The heavy weight of her stare was a bit uncomfortable, but he quickly brushed it off. He has been stared at a lot of times, but this girl was making him feel he was under a spotlight. Maybe it was her unusual hair colour that made him draw more attention to her, or maybe it was her loud, annoying friends sitting with her.

Sasori drummed his fingers on the lunch table, annoyed with himself and this stupid, girl. He didn't touch his lunch yet. He actually almost never ate lunch. He always skipped it, and then at the end of school makes an automatic trip to find the closest Starbucks. Sasori ran his hand through his hair, carefully avoiding her eyes, towards another table.

And he almost laughed at what he saw.

A boy. Well, he looked like a boy. Probably a sophomore, or a junior. But that wasn't it. The guy sort of looked like him. Same shade of red hair, dark circles under his eyes and terribly skinny. He was as pale as snow, and he just stared at his sandwich. The people around him looked like they weren't talkers but occasionally one of them spoke up and the other would nod quickly demolishing small chat.

Sasori turned his head, and impatiently looked at the girl with pink hair. A look that obviously meant _'Are you done yet?'_. The girl looked down at her hands, blushing, and quickly joined into the conversation with her friends she never was in anyways.

Other than her hair, he caught something that made him look at her for a second more. Her brilliant green eyes.

How silly, he thought. Wasting time for a petty girl who just happens to have pretty eyes. His mother had pretty eyes, but she didn't turn out too well didn't she? Sasori thought bitterly.

He poked his uneaten sandwich in front of him again.

.oOo.

The guy was definitely handsome.

His red hair made him stand out, and it was a rich, red colour a lot of people would like to achieve. He was as pale as a sheet of paper, sort of like herself, and right now he was smirking at something. It was a tiny smirk and she only caught a tiny movement on his lips. A lift of a cheek with bored, flat eyes. He had beautiful brown eyes. And it went incredibly well with his hair and skin. The guy seemed tall and his long fingers were drumming against the ugly table. The food in front of him didn't have a single bite dented in it, and it didn't seem he was hungry. He looked quite bored, like he was babysitting a bunch of five year olds when he was supposed to be at a party. But all together, he was extremely handsome. His posture and expression made him look dangerous, edgy and totally bad ass. And it didn't look like he was a bad ass wannabe like _some _people she knew.

She continued to profile him, when suddenly he slowly turned his head and gave her a look. It was enough to send chills down her spine and back to her neck. It wasn't that mean, but it wasn't all that friendly either. It was the kind of look her sister used to give her when she was examining her clothes.

Embarrassed, she trained her eyes to not look at the mystery man and down at her hands. A sudden wave of déjà vu swept through Sakura. That's it. This morning where she was staring off into space, and the familiar rich colour of red that was in the centre of her vision. She suddenly recognized him. Oh man, she was staring at _him _before. Shit, now he probably thinks he has a stalker. Horrified at herself, she piped in on what Ino was randomly blabbering about now.

"…So, who's coming to the party in two months?!" Ino whooped loud enough for the whole school to hear. Heads turned, smiles placed on their lips. Every one knew how outrageous Ino's party's were. It always ended up with more than just a few people losing articles of clothing. Sakura thought she was too excited whenever Ino's parties were. Ino was a person that easily gets excited and then throws a bash just for an excuse to party. Thanksgiving? Party at Ino's. Easter? Party. 's Day? You got it. This time Ino had a special reason to party. It was her birthday, and who knows how crazy that would be. It would be in two months, but knowing Ino, she probably planned everything and who she invited. Now all she had to do was wait.

Sakura quickly joined in, not wanting to stay hidden in silence and embarrassment for too long, "Um, I think I am. Mom and dad are away again and I don't have any plans."

"Yay! Sakura you never come to Ino's parties now. So glad your coming this time." Tenten chirped.

"Yeah…" Sakura wanted to curl into a ball at all the attention her friends were giving her. She knew exactly what they were thinking: Why is she always so busy? Stupid over observant friends.

"Say, Sakura, how come you never go out with us anymore?" Naruto bravely spoke for the group. She didn't want to admit it, but Hinata smacked her boyfriend's arm obviously knowing Sakura's current situation.

"Um, you know. Universities and stuff. I wanna plan early. And you know, I…er, you know Athena! She just loves to eat!" She chuckled nervously at her lame excuse. Athena was Sakura's playful, obese cat that has been her best friend for a while now.

"Yeah…" Naruto stated, trailing off obviously meaning _'Nice excuse. But after, you better tell!' _

Thankfully, the lunch bell went off before her friends pressed her on the subject.

"Well, let's go guys. I have Kurenai this time, and you know how strict she is on tardiness," Temari stated right after the bell. God bless her.

So everybody shrugged off the awkward chat and headed lazily to their class.

.oOo.

He tucked his iPod back into his pocket and entered his new class. The teacher's name was Mr. Hatake, and by his posture, he looked as bored as ever.

Sasori randomly sat at a desk, next to a petite, pretty blonde. She instantly pulled her desk a few inches away from him and whispered to her friend.

"Class, I know this is gonna be pretty stupid, but I'm your teacher for this class and you all have to introduce yourself." Mr. Hatake's words dripped with boredom.

Every student stood up, murmured their name and sat back down. The blonde beside him stood.

"Hi! My name is Ino Yamanaka," The perky blonde was unusually happy. Even though he didn't know her that well, he thought her voice was annoying, too loud. Like a new guy moved in next door and his dog that you never knew he had started yapping at you twenty-four seven. She sat down, and Sasori stood.

"My name is Sasori no Akasuna." A few guys in the back laughed.

"Well, since we all introduced each other, let's get on with History."

.oOo.

Calculus was a breeze and she headed towards her art class. Even though she signed up for art today, the teachers didn't worry or stress for the late notice. If you were a teacher here, being stressed does not help. It piles on and on, and pretty soon your trapped in a mountain of stress.

Sakura peeked into the room, taking a quick profile of the art room. She recognized some familiar faces: Hinata, Naruto and Tenten. She sighed in relief. Even though she attended to this school since freshman year, she didn't usually stray from her usual friends and in return, her school didn't really notice her.

She flushed when she noticed she was late, how all the seats were occupied and her teacher was giving her a glare.

"Ah, sorry sir. I…er…" She blushed a deeper red.

"It's okay. But next time if you're late…" The teacher shrugged it off, and started with his class.

Sakura quickly looked at the big classroom, unsure of where to sit. And she had to choose carefully because you picked only one seat for the rest of the year. Her friends looked at her like they wanted to pull a seat for her, but an overly obese guy sat beside Tenten, and a guy, whose name was pretty sure Sai, sat next to Naruto. Disappointed, she pulled a chair that was at the back of the classroom, with the whole class watching her and waiting for her.

"Hello class. My name is Mr. Iruka, but you can just call me Iruka. I don't mind. Now, I recognize some of your faces but some are unfamiliar with me. So, each of you must stand and introduce yourselves."

Iruka pointed at the obese guy, and from there it went into a zigzag pattern. Now it was her row.

"Sakura Haruno," She quickly sat down.

"Sasori no Akasuna." The voice was flat, bored and familiar. She froze and looked beside her.

The same red rich colour, and the beautiful pale skin. Wait a second…Sakura thought. What is…?! Her eyes widened in horror.

The guy had a ragged, long scar at his neck. It was horizontal and the left part was extended upwards, towards the curve of his jaw. It was probably an inch deep, and it looked _painful_. She knew better to stare at others lacerations. She suddenly recalled when her mother scolded her when her eyes grazed against the half of the arm of a poor man. But she couldn't. Like Medusa, a terrible thing that turned you to stone when you saw it but at the same time, you _want _to look at it. When her eyes drifted upwards, to see if the guy had noticed her rude staring, there was another long, wound. But this time, it was an elegant one like it was a tattoo. The one on his neck looked like a kindergartener taped a piece of ripped tissue paper on his neck. This one was placed above his left eyebrow and stopped where his hair started.

He whipped his head around, and gave her an icy glare.

She immediately froze up and her hands trembled, caused by the sudden fierceness and the shock didn't wear off when her eyes were travelling on his face and neck. She wondered why she hadn't noticed this before when she was examining him in the lunchroom.

"I…I'm s-sorry." She stuttered like Hinata.

"It's okay." His voice was smooth and it was perfect. Sort of the kind of voice a narrator would have. The word _'okay'' _was whipped out hard and cold, like he had to force it through his teeth and yet, Sakura still found his voice was beautiful.

"Class, I know it's the first day of school but I got a great assignment. Team up with the person beside you and create a sculpture! Last year, it was on how you would think heaven would be like, but this time it's the opposite. Describe in your sculpture what you think life is. You have two months to do so, and you could create it with anything you can get your hands on. The more creative the higher your marks will rise. You may discuss with your partner right now and this does project is allowed to be taken home and completed."

Naruto and Hinata were already chatting, and decided to do a three-man project, but it only allowed two. Iruka agreed on it anyways.

"Sir, can I work on this alone?" Sasori spoke over the buzz of the class.

"Sorry, Sasori. But you have to have a partner. Sai over there was supposed to be in the advanced art program but there wasn't enough room so he was stuck here, and he's not complaining. Sasori, you are partnered with…Ah, Miss Sakura Haruno. I'm sure you guys would work great together!" And with that Iruka walked off. Damn his happiness.

Right after he left, Sasori muttered something to her but didn't even look at her, "I'll do this by myself. Just keep out of it, and I'll just say you volunteered to help me. Got it?"

Totally taken aback, Sakura shot back, "Excuse me? I am not going to just sit back and watch you do everything."

"Yes, you are. Art is _my _thing, and I am _not _going let my grades drop lower than it is by _you_. Besides, I can already see your artistically challenged," He pointed at her hair, actually looking at her this time. "Feh, next time try to blonde dye, and not mix it up with a ridiculous pink colour."

Completely red, anger rocked through her body. Her hair had teased her since first grade. "No, I am not. This is my real hair colour, jackass! Besides, I should be talking?! I think you should return that _fake _scar back to the store. It's not Halloween yet."

Sasori gritted his teeth and muttered two words he knew since third grade, "Fuck you."

She growled, a small rumble in the back of her throat.

At the same time, they noticed that their classmates have witnessed the whole thing, minus oblivious Iruka, and was making bets.

"Ha! Bet you twenty that pinky is gonna have a fit."

"Ten on the freaky dude. Heard he beat up…her, so why can't he do it to Sakura?"

"I bet fifteen bucks that she's gonna slap him!"

Sakura narrowed her eyes and hissed, while Sasori rolled his eyes.

Being the smart, mature person Sakura is she did something unexpected. "Sasori, I am so terribly sorry. Wanna shake on it?" She put on her best smile for the world to see, and her eyes made it seem like she was happy but if you actually saw them, it was obvious she was mocking.

Sasori, quickly catching on shook her hand, "Sure. I'm…sorry too." He managed to force out _'sorry_, but it was only a few seconds so no one noticed. Their hands met, and electricity tingled into their veins. Both of them squeezed hard and they both smiled at each other the first time.

**A/N: Like it? I'm not one to beg for reviews. I just go to my Story Traffic and count how many Hits it has, and that's enough to make me smile. But if you review that's great. If you review and favourite, that's even better. If you do all of the above and alert my story that would make my week. **

**-Bitter-Sweet-ish**

**(Angie)**


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